Invitations not reaching guests. what to do?

arunkumar · May 2012

I just had lunch with my co-worker and asked him if he received my invitation in the mail. I sent them on Saturday so they arrived to local guests on Monday. He said he hasn't gotten it. I'm thinking one of three things happened. 1. I wrote the wrong address on the invitation, 2. The post office screwed up somehow and it was delivered to the wrong address, or 3. my co-worker received it and might have accidentally thrown it away (he joked that sometimes junk mail can come in really nice packaging).

I told him if the address was wrong, the invitation will come back to me and I'll give it to him in person (which he is fine with). However if I don't get the invitation back, I'll have to give him a new invitation. Stupid me only ordered 5 extra invitations after sending out 70 total. Do I hand out new invitations to guests (assuming there might be more people that don't receive theirs) until I run out and then just e-mail the wedding details or direct guests to our wedding website for the ceremony/reception details? I know it might be tacky, but my invites were pricey to begin with and I'm worried an additional rush delivery order would cost a ton. Does it depend on who didn't receive the invitation? Some of FI's friends and family are super casual, so my "fancy" invitation, as FI's cousin called it, was more than they were expecting.

BmoreBride311 · May 2012

Hmm... this is making me wonder how I would even know if this happened to any of ours. We had one come back undeliverable that we're just resending in a new envelope, but I don't know how I would know if there were some that didn't make it but weren't returned.

Are you asking everyone if they received it?

butterflyjumper1 · May 2012

This is practically my worst nightmare!

It happened to one of my best friends with our save the dates. I was really devastated when he kept reporting back to me that he hadn't received it! I re-sent, but was hopeful it wouldn't happen with actual invitations.

I don't think I have any good advice...I would just wait and see if anyone else complains about not receiving an invite. You could go ahead and give co-worker one of the extras. You definitely want extras for yourself, though - for scrapbooking, pinterest crafts, for photography purposes - so I would keep at least 3 for yourself.

mbody · May 2012

Would you really reconsider handing out new invites to every guest in the off chance that one might have gotten 'lost?' I wouldn't do that. I'd just wait a bit, and see how it plays out. You can send one of the extra invites to someone in the event that an invite went missing.

I don't understand what you mean by: Does it depend on who didn't recieve the invitation? What does that have to do with your FI's family being casual and your invite being fancy?

k8888 · May 2012

I would sit on it for a while longer before worrying about handing out extras. It may just be stuck in transit somewhere as it's only been a few days.

I sent 3 invitations to the same house and 2 showed up while 1 has yet to show up. I sent mine out last Thursday.

dramaqueen91087 · May 2012

We had two guests not recieve shower invitations.

One, FI's sister, just didn't get hers. She found out because her sister called to ask if she was going. She texted FMIL (at 2 am!) who called me. We had extras at that point so we sent her a new one.

The other, a fellow comedy wife, we think got it but it was thrown out. They live with her husbands mother who has serious mental definicies (I have known them for about 2 years and she has no idea who I am) and she has apparently been throwing out mail. They discovered this when the husband got arrested for not answering a summons! Anyway, for her I just sent her the details over facebook PM.

So basically, each situation is different. If you don't have a ton of extras and are ok with giving the details another way then go for it. Things just get lost in the mail sometimes.

Melissa.hylton · May 2012

Ive had 1 guest not get theirs at ALL and it was mailed 4/23 and we remailed them one last week that they recieved. Funny thing is my FSIL mailed them my bridal shower invite and it had the wrong address on it and it made it to them.

I have also had 3 people JUST NOW get their invite almost a month later.

I have had 3 invites sent back even when the addresses were 100% correct and checked with the source.

mbody · May 2012

I had two STD's come back with the correct addresses on them. The post office thinks the machine read the addresses wrong and actually thought we were trying to send it to our house.

And another STD just didn't make it to a house- when that household actually got three STD's. So, that was odd.

michelle11988 · May 2012

I would wait another week or so and then worry about it. I had a couple of my out-of-state relatives email me when they received it, but I asked them to do so just so I knew the timeline for the rest that got sent to the mid-west. Things get caught up in the mail all the time. I have numerous clients that claim they send checks one week and then 2 weeks later they show up at the office.

arunkumar · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_invitations-not-reaching-guests-what-to-do?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:2dc359d8-5c52-41e1-98c9-af3b1c9907dfPost:82d10e8b-9fe4-4f11-b911-daa89a4255e5">Re: Invitations not reaching guests. what to do?</a>:
[QUOTE]Would you really reconsider handing out new invites to every guest in the off chance that one might have gotten 'lost?' I wouldn't do that. I'd just wait a bit, and see how it plays out. You can send one of the extra invites to someone in the event that an invite went missing. I don't understand what you mean by: Does it depend on who didn't recieve the invitation? What does that have to do with your FI's family being casual and your invite being fancy?
Posted by mbody[/QUOTE]

What I mean is that I probably wouldn't give one of FI's friends or co-workers another invite over FI's grandmother or a really close relative. I'm sure some of FI's male friends or cousins wouldn't appreciate the invitation as much as his grandmother. I know I shouldn't make generalizations, but I did!

I'm not asking everyone if they received an invitation. I just happened to ask my co-worker because we were together. I'm waiting until someone tells me they didn't receive the invitation or until the RSVP deadline passes to inquire about whether someone is missing an invitation because I didn't get their response card. I'm glad to know from some of you that mail doesn't always get to the recipient right away. I sent my sister a wedding invitation and shower thank you card, both to the correct address, on the same day and the thank you card came back to me! I have no idea why.

mbody · May 2012

ok, I was just confused at what you meant. At any rate, I don't think you're going to have that many people not receive the invite.

arunkumar · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_invitations-not-reaching-guests-what-to-do?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:2dc359d8-5c52-41e1-98c9-af3b1c9907dfPost:2a4f969a-8ac2-45ab-ae37-fdccb764c939">Re: Invitations not reaching guests. what to do?</a>:
[QUOTE]ok, I was just confused at what you meant. At any rate, I don't think you're going to have that many people not receive the invite.
Posted by mbody[/QUOTE]

I hope you're right. Fingers crossed!

bridetobe71412 · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_invitations-not-reaching-guests-what-to-do?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:2dc359d8-5c52-41e1-98c9-af3b1c9907dfPost:3761d2d8-72a3-4212-9f0b-1f3d934ae92e">Re: Invitations not reaching guests. what to do?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Invitations not reaching guests. what to do? : I sent my sister a wedding invitation and shower thank you card, both to the correct address, on the same day and the thank you card came back to me! <strong>I have no idea why.
</strong>Posted by arunkumar[/QUOTE]

Because the USPS sucks.

butterflyjumper1 · May 2012

USPS sucking is my rationale for my some of my save the dates got lost. wah-wah.

arunkumar · May 2012

Now I'm wondering if some of the invitations have not been received because I split the invitations between two post offices (I was paranoid about a mishap for all the invitations). I wonder if some post offices are better than others at sorting mail, etc... Oh well. It's all just a waiting game at this point!

ajmom2two · May 2012

I would give it a little more time. Maybe mail him a new one if he hasnt gotten by Monday next week. We had a few people living in the same city gets there's like 4 days later than other guests. I am waiting to see if we get one back that was just mailed out on Monday. On Mother's Day I found out from FI's mom that there were 6 more family members that HAD to have invites. This is the second set of people added to the guest list. Anyhow...FI's mom gave us one of the couples addresses Sunday. She texted me yesterday to say that it was completely wrong bc they moved to another city! So I am hoping it will come back bc I am out of invites now. I had to use all 9 of my extras for people FI forgot.

arunkumar · May 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_july-2012-weddings_invitations-not-reaching-guests-what-to-do?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:066005ef-215f-48b1-8655-328b41e07c52Discussion:2dc359d8-5c52-41e1-98c9-af3b1c9907dfPost:05fbab2b-ec5d-43fb-8857-df71ccd803a7">Re: Invitations not reaching guests. what to do?</a>:
[QUOTE]I would give it a little more time. Maybe mail him a new one if he hasnt gotten by Monday next week. We had a few people living in the same city gets there's like 4 days later than other guests. I am waiting to see if we get one back that was just mailed out on Monday. On Mother's Day I found out from FI's mom that there were 6 more family members that HAD to have invites. This is the second set of people added to the guest list. Anyhow...FI's mom gave us one of the couples addresses Sunday. She texted me yesterday to say that it was completely wrong bc they moved to another city! So I am hoping it will come back bc I am out of invites now. I had to use all 9 of my extras for people FI forgot. :(
Posted by ajmom2two[/QUOTE]

Bummer. I would irritated at my FI if he used all the extras in this case! Hopefully the invitation will get forwarded to their new address. Forwarding addresses are usually good for one year I think.

Hallanole · May 2012

I am freaking out. I know two of our GM's didn't get theirs. I can't exactly call up people and say did you get it?

I have been getting responses back from my family and friends, Nothing from FI's side. We still have plently of time. I'm just doing the mad dash to the mailbox each day looking who responds.

Invitations not reaching guests. what to do?

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